Get to the point!

We all recognize we are living in a "sound bite" world.  Texting, tweeting, and Snap chatting are the new normal.  TL;DR (too long; didn't read) is a typical response for verbose writing.  Getting to the point is a priority.  I like this when communicating with my young adult children.  Short text messages like, wash car, phone home, achieve the expected action.  

Business professionals are challenged to incorporate the new normal when presenting information.  We have all experienced "death by PowerPoint" by speakers who drone on without acknowledging the audience has lost interest. 

A recent article by Madeline Stone highlights a 2004 memo from Jeff Bezos explaining why PowerPoint is not to be used within Amazon to present ideas.

http://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-email-against-powerpoint-presentations-2015-7

Content needs to get to the point and deliver a clearly articulated message to achieve the desired response.  Good sales professionals know not to present the 67 .ppt slides, that marketing created, to their customers.  A few (3), well chosen, messages are better communicated, and remembered, rather than 22.  Curating content is not an easy task.  However, the result is well worth the effort. Audiences would prefer not to have to think to find the hidden message.  

Carmine Gallo writes about Jeff Bezos announcing the Kindle Fire and the power of getting to the point.  

"Bezos introduced the new Kindle Fire HD with a series of slides that just showed images of the products features and services (movies, games, photos). He also played a new video ad (most people don’t use enough multimedia in their presentations. Video clips are engaging and memorable. Just keep them short)..... Earlier in the presentation, Bezos unveiled the Kindle Paperwhite, an e-reader with a higher resolution display and patented built-in light. Bezos said the battery lasts eight weeks. Most presenters would have added “8 weeks battery life” to a long list of bullet points/features on one slide. Instead Bezos showed a picture of a calendar with the months September and October. September 6—the day of the presentation—was highlighted in red and Bezos told the audience that the battery would last until the end of October. That’s memorable. People will recall the text—8 weeks battery life—much more easily because it was connected with the image of the calendar."

Investing the effort to combine short videos, infographics, visual charts, and pictures to tell/sell your story is the new normal.  Your audience will appreciate the result.